After this unusually steamy summer the only thing we want hot is a cider doughnut fresh off the fryer.

Cider doughnuts, which indeed are made with apple cider in the batter, can be found at orchards and markets around Chittenden County this time of year. Some retail outlets, such as Burlington’s City Market and Adams Farm Market in Williston, get deliveries from local bakers. To get a warm dozen, though, you have to go straight to the source and do some planning. Here are some tips:

Mill Market and Deli: Call ahead

At The Mill Market and Deli on Dorset Street in South Burlington the “famous Chittenden cider doughnuts” are made most days, year-round. On fall weekends the bakery makes at least 100 dozen a day, and they’re made throughout the day.

Market co-owner Kyle Busier says the best way to get yourself a hot one is to call ahead to find out when doughnuts are being made that day. The bakers don’t make the doughnuts to order, but you could stand by as they’re being made.

The Mill Market changed hands in 2009 but still makes the Chittenden sweet apple cider and the cider doughnuts, using the same recipe and same doughnut machine, Busier said. Moe Leduc has been making doughnuts there for more than 25 years.

These cider doughnuts have more of the warming autumnal spices than most versions we’ve tried. But don’t bother asking for the recipe: It’s a secret Busier promised to keep when he took over the operation from the Chittenden family.

If you go:

What: Mill Market and Deli

Hours: 8 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. daily

Location: 1580 Dorset St. South Burlington,

Contact: 802-862-4602, www.themillmarketanddeli.com

Chapin Orchard: Stalk the fryer

At Chapin Orchard in Essex Junction there’s a good chance you can get a fresh doughnut if you hang around the orchard store on a weekend morning. On busy fall weekends the fryer starts around 7 a.m. and the doughnuts are churned out all day until at least 5 p.m. On less busy days the machine may stop in the early afternoon, said orchard manager James Bove.

If you miss the latest batch, spend some time picking some of the 30 apple varieties while the next batch fries.

Bove also offers a doughnut hack: Bring a dozen home and pop them in the oven to recreate that fresh-made experience. They also freeze well, Bove says, to keep you in doughnuts for days.

If you go:

What: Chapin Orchard

Hours: 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., daily through Nov. 4

Location: 150 Chapin Road, Essex Junction

Contact: 879-6210, https://chapinorchard.com

Shelburne Orchards: Ask nicely

Nick Cowles literally grew up at Shelburne Orchards. He took over operation of the orchards from his father in 1974. He started selling doughnuts about 20 years ago and they were an instant hit.

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Shelburne Orchards owner Nick Cowles took over the farm from his father, who started it in the 1950s. Whether or not their secret recipe for their cider donuts started back then, Cowles won't say, but does offer up a wry smile and polite silence if you try to ask him about how they make their cider donuts.(Photo: RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESS)

“There’s something about doughnuts and apples together,” Cowles said.

On a busy weekend the orchard’s two “doughnut robots” will be fired up at 5 a.m. and run all day.

Most cider doughnut makers are using the same type of machine, Cowles said, many of them several decades old.

“It takes work to keep the doughnuts perfectly turning out,” he said. “You have to think pure thoughts or the doughnut gods won’t smile on you.”

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The one thing that puts a smile on Eben Kassel's face after starting work at Shelburne Orchards at 5 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2018, is that he gets to make the donuts. Cider donuts, which both Eben and his boss, orchard owner Nick Cowles, say are the best around thanks to a few tricks, most of which they refused to talk about. But paying close attention to quality, getting things 'just right' they say, is part of what makes a great cider donut. (Photo: RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESS)

You could pray to the deities for a warm one, or arrive early on a weekday. Shelburne Orchards makes doughnuts seven days a week. The trick to getting a warm cider doughnut on the weekends: Just ask, Cowles said. On a busy day the machine is running so often that staff could fetch a warm one if you ask nicely.

Cowles knows things could turn ugly if there was a doughnut shortage.

“If we ever ran out on a weekend we’d have a riot. I’d be tarred and feathered,” he said a few days before firing up the machines for the season.

Cowles also clued us in to something perhaps even better than a fresh doughnut: One sliced in half like a bagel with a scoop of ice cream in between. He calls the sandwich a “quickie,” and it can be made at the Shelburne Orchard bakery.

Sam Mazza’s Farm Market: Wake up early

At Sam Mazza’s Farm Market in Colchester the whole operation is a family affair. Head Baker Frank Peters makes the doughnuts with the help of his younger brother, Kevin. Peters has been running the bakery since it first opened in 1992 and doughnuts started a couple years after that, said Laurie Bombard, a market co-owner and member of the Mazza family.